Skynet was developed by Cyberdyne systems, and becomes self aware in August of 1997. It's funny that no one in the movies ever questioned the paradox of making something from a chip that didn't exist yet.

Their primary domain is skynet.be but due to a (latterly rationalised) rather over-complex marketing strategy they are also responsible for belgacom.net ("free" - i.e. call charges only - mass-market accounts). Encroaching liberalisation means that they are no longer the only ISP in the country providing DSL, although most or all other providers' DSL packages are still basically Belgacom services resold.

Update, October 2008: Belgacom stopped using the Skynet brand for its ISP services around 2005 in favour of the "main" Belgacom name and its mobile telephony brand Proximus; the name continues as a general portal site aimed at the Belgian market, skynet.be.

As mentioned in a few of the writeups, Skynet is a paradox (it is never invented in the timeline).

What they fail to mention is that Skynet HAD to send back the original Terminator in order to be created. In fact, given the information available it is almost certain that Skynet would HAVE to have been aware of the fact the first terminator that it sent back would be destroyed.

But that leads to another paradox. Clearly, Skynet lives in a physics model where the future (and the past) cannot be modified. That is, all time travel does is ensure that the present (from the time travelers perspective) does not change. So Skynet is wasting resources sending terminators back in time. If one of them had suceeded, Skynet would not be fighting the resistance leader in the future.

Perhaps this was done to appease fans of the Dark Horse comics who wondered how John could still be a teenager in the year 2000. But then, Terminator 2 was 1992, eight years after 1984, and yet John was about twelve years old. The plot begins to have more holes than Arnie's leather jacket.

However, Skynet is not wasting resources per se by sending back the first Terminator - as, without the first Terminator, Skynet would never have been built based on the chip design. The first Terminator is, in fact, to ensure Skynet's existence in the future.

Kyle Reese in the first movie claimed that the Resistance had won and Skynet, desperate, sent back the first Terminator.

But Terminator 3: Not Even Fan Service seems to blow these out of the water a bit, unless the one future sequence of John standing atop wreckage with a tattered American flag is meant to indicate they do eventually win.

This in turn raises the question, why does Skynet even bother, if it knows all it will achieve by starting the war is ravaging the planet for three decades?

The system is based around a number of geosynchronous satellites which relay encrypted signals
from ground stations, ships, and between each other. Each successive Skynet satellite is designated
with its generation and an alphabetic character – Skynet 4E, for example.

While his team was proficient and professional, Padfield's main problem was in dealing with
entrenched bureaucracy and inter-service rivalry. The MoD was opposed to the project in
principle, as was the RAF, which remained bitterly hostile because it held sole control of the
existing British high frequency communications system.

Despite this, the first Skynet 1 satellite was launched on 22nd November 1969 from Cape
Canaveral. Built by Ford Aerospace, it weighed 422kg and resembled nothing more than a huge
zoetrope. Reports differ over Skynet 1A’s fate. Some accounts describe nine years of active
service, which would have far exceeded its expected life, but others suggest it failed prematurely.
Skynet 1B was launched on 19th August 1970, but at least here sources are in agreement that it failed
to reach its geosynchronous position, becoming stranded in a lower orbit when a rocket motor
malfunctioned.

Skynet 2 satellites were spin-stabilised, weighed 240kg and used two communications bands, 20MHz
and 2MHz. In appearance, they, again, were large drum-shaped constructions, although they were
smaller than the first van-sized modules. This second programme began unsuccessfully in 1974 with the
loss of Skynet 2A following another launch malfunction. Skynet 2B, however, worked perfectly, and
amazingly was still in service 20 years later.

There was never a Skynet 3, and, despite my best efforts, I have been unable to find out why. Which is
vaguely frustrating.

Skynet 4, however, is currently in use by the British services. It was built by British defence
contractor British Aerospace (now BAe Systems). The first three units were deployed successively
throughout 1988-1990 by the American Titan 3 rocket (4A) and the European Arianne (4B and 4C).
Designed to last only seven years, they included hugely improved electronics, jam-resistance and
16-foot solar panels as well as multichannel X-band, EHF and UHF band transponders. In 1998-99,
as 4A-4C began to reach the end of their working life, NASA kindly lifted three more birds for the
MoD. 4D-4F are of the same generation but have been reworked by contractors Matra Marconi Space
(now part of sprawling European contractor EADS Space). Their incremental improvements include
hardening against EMP, further jam-resistance and directable antennae for tactical purposes.

The Skynet 4 constellation are now reaching their final days, and so the MoD has been waving vast
contracts for the next generation of satcoms platforms at aerospace
contractors since early 2002. Skynet 5 is still two to three years from being deployed, but will have
the singular distinction of being the world’s only outsourced military communications network. The
MoD awarded the contract to build the satellites to EADS Space and another contract to run and
maintain them to Paradigm Secure Communications, a wholly owned EADS subsidiary; the MoD will, in
effect, pay to lease the satellites’ use. This is an example of the British Government’s Private
Finance Initiative (PFI) at work, and indeed Skynet 5 is the largest PFI contract yet awarded. The
tangled, incestuous web of defence contracts and sub-contracts sees EADS subsidiary Paradigm awarding
a sub-contract for upgrading ground control stations and naval communications to … EADS Space.

Skynet is a producer of drum and bass music from the United Kingdom. He started producing music around 1997 and is known for his collaborations with Stakka, whom he met first in 1996. Together they produced three albums, called Voyager, Blazin, and Clockwork.

Despite the success of their partnership, which lasted from 1998 to 2003 circa, Skynet decided to quit working together with Stakka, because, according to his words, "It was like a marriage without the love. I felt restricted and needed to move on".